Аннотация от автора: The Lezgins are the descendants of Caucasic peoples who have inhabited the region of southern Daghestan since at least the Bronze Age. The Lezgins are closely related, both culturally and linguistically, to the Aghuls of southern Daghestan and, somewhat more distantly, to the Tsakhurs, Rutuls, and Tabasarans (the northern neighbors of the Lezgins). Also related, albeit more distantly, are the numerically small Jek, Kryz, Khaput, Budukh, and Khinalug peoples of northern Azerbaijan. These groups, together with the Lezgins, form the Samurian branch of the indigenous Caucasic peoples...

Аннотация от автора: The Koryaks are the main aboriginal population of the Koryak Autonomous District (okrug, the center of which is Palana), a part of Kamchatka Oblast in Russia. A small number of Koryaks live in the Chukotsk Autonomous District and North-Evenk Territory: both are parts of the Magadan Province of Russia. In the past Koryaks did not have a general name for themselves. They are divided into two groups distinguished by economic activity: Chavchuvens (nomadic reindeer herders) and Nymylan (settled fishermen and sea hunters). The largest tribal groups of Koryaks are Al'utor (inhabiting the area of Korfa Bay, east coast of Kamchatka), the Palan (west coast of Kamchatka), and the Karagin (Litke Strait, east coast of Kamchatka). A small number of Kereks who live on Chukotka Peninsula in the Beringov Territory of Magadan Province (on the coast of the Bering Sea) are not considered by all experts to be related to the Koryaks. The material culture of the Kereks is similar to that of the Nymylans...

Аннотация от автора: The Komi live west of the Ural Mountains in the northeastern half of the European portion of the Komi Republic and the Komi-Permyak Autonomous Area (AA). The inhabitants of the former administrative territory are today called "Komi-Ziryenes," those living in the latter territory "Komi-Permyaks." In addition, smaller groups of Komi can still be found on the Kola Peninsula and in western Siberia...

Аннотация от автора: The Karelians belong to the Baltic-Finnic branch of the Finno-Ugrian peoples. The Karelians are not nor have they ever been a unified ethnos. They presently live in Finland and the former Soviet Union and have been partially assimilated into the Finn and Russian populations, but many consider themselves Karelian even though they cannot speak the Karelian language. They are not officially counted in Finland, but the Karelians in Russia are included in the census as a separate people. Since the Middle Ages the Karelians have formed a portion of the Finnish nationality, and the Finnish and Karelian folk traditions have a great deal in common. The Karelians, however, differ from both the Russians and the Finns in language and from the Finns also in religion...

Аннотация от автора: The Kalmyks are the Western Mongols, also known as the "Oirats," who in the beginning of the seventeenth century undertook migration west, eventually to roam the steppes of the Volga, Don, and Kuban rivers. Today the Kalmyks reside in the Republic of Kalmykia, located in southeast European Russia bordering on the Caspian Sea. It is one of the twenty autonomous republics within the Russian Republic. Traditionally the Kalmyk (also transcribed Qalmïq) people identified themselves by the name of one of the tribes they belonged to: Torgut, Khoshut, and Derbet. It is commonly believed that the term "khal'mg" is derived from the Turkic kalmak (to leave behind, to remain) and was used by the Turkic peoples as early as the fourteenth century to designate the Western Mongols. In fact, there is no historic or linguistic evidence to substantiate this conclusion. The term "khal'mg" did not become a self-designation until the early nineteenth century...

Аннотация от автора: The Dolgan inhabit the Taimyr Peninsula and the left bank of the lower Yenisei River, across from the town of Dudinka. This territory forms part of the Taimyr (Dolgan-Nenets) Autonomous District (okrug), the TAO, which is part of the Krasnoyarsk region of the Russian Federation (RF). The Dolgan do not enjoy national autonomy. In the majority of settlements they reside and conduct their economy in common with the Nganasan, Evenki, Nenets, and other nationalities, as well as with migrants. At the present time most of the Dolgan are concentrated in the settlements along the courses of the Dudypta, Kheta, and Khatanga rivers and along the shores of Khatanga Bay. Some also live in the settlements of Levinskie Peski and Khantaiskoe Ozero in the western part of the TAO. A number of families reside in the district capital of Dudinka and in the large townlike settlement of Khatanga...

Аннотация от автора: The Chechens and Ingush are the most numerous northern Caucasian group and territorially one of the largest. In view of their numbers, the strategic location of their territory, and the strong leading role of the Chechens in the resistance to the Russian conquest of the Caucasus, they figure with particular prominence in Russian artistic literature depicting the northern Caucasus. Although Chechen and Ingush are distinct languages and are not mutually intelligible, in areas of population overlap communication is achieved through passive bilingualism. Learning to communicate smoothly in an unfamiliar dialect area may require several days' time. There are Chechen communities in Jordan, Syria, and Turkey, formed when many Chechens and Ingush emigrated to Muslim countries after the Caucasus Wars in the mid-nineteenth century. These émigré communities retain the language (basically Chechen dialects, although some of the émigrés are of Ingush descent) and much of the culture. The language is especially well retained in Jordan, where children still learn it as their first language...

Аннотация от автора: The Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (BASSR) was one of the sixteen autonomous republics and other autonomous areas that comprised the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (RSFSR). Today Bashkirstan is one of the eighteen republics that form Russia. About two-thirds of the almost 1 million who call themselves Bashkirs live in the national republic. The rest live mostly in neighboring areas. Another 90,000 live in the Central Asian republics...

Аннотация от автора: The Aghuls are one of the indigenous peoples of Daghestan, culturally and linguistically akin to the Lezgins and Tabasarans. Traditionally the Aghuls identified themselves only by their village name (Khutkhul, Khorej, etc.)...